1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle-side charging connector to be mounted in a vehicle as well as to a method of mounting the same in a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric cars contribute to cleaner air in cities because they produce no harmful emissions. An electric vehicle (EV) recharged from the US grid electricity in 2008 emits about 115 grams of CO2 per kilometer, whereas a conventional US-market gasoline powered car emits about 250 grams of CO2 per kilometer. The concept “Vehicle to Grid” provides electric cars and hybrid vehicles as energy reservoir for the public power grid. In this concept, vehicles parking most time of their life, may be used as energy source and accumulator so as to compensate for peak loads in the public power grid. This concept however, requires a reliable electric connection of the vehicles with the public power grid, even under wet and hot/cold weather conditions of the parking space where the vehicle is parked.
Charging connectors for charging a vehicle-side battery installed e.g. in a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle are known. In these known connector systems, a vehicle-side connector is fixedly mounted in or at the vehicle and is connected with the battery of the vehicle. For charging the battery of the vehicle via an external charging cable from an external power source, a charging connector provided at an end of the charging cable may be connected with the vehicle-side connector so as to provide an electric connection between the external power source and the battery installed within the vehicle.
Upon charging, the charging connector is connected to the vehicle-side connector, the two connectors are held in a connected state by locking a lock-receiving portion provided on the vehicle-side connector and the locking portion to each other and charging is performed. After charging is completed, the unlocking portion is pushed to cancel the locked state of the locking portion and the lock-receiving portion, whereby the charging connector can be separated from the vehicle-side connector.
Such charging connectors are specified e.g. in the standard SAE J1772 and are known e.g. from EP 2 626 955 A1. In this well known charging connector system, the vehicle-side connector is provided with a mounting plate which is placed substantially along an opening edge of a mounting opening portion provided in a panel of the vehicle so as to fix the vehicle-side connector to the vehicle. When the mounting opening of the vehicle has to be changed due to changing the vehicle-side connector, the system is not very flexible. Moreover, the vehicle-side connector is normally bonded to the panel of the vehicle so as to provide a water-tight mounting of the vehicle-side connector. Accordingly, when the vehicle-side connector fails and needs to be replaced, the disassembly of the vehicle-side connector is laborious and many man hours are required for replacement.
Accordingly, there is a need to improve this situation. In particular, there shall be provided a vehicle-side charging connector having a high flexibility in view of changing a number of terminals for different applications as well as to provide a connector which can be easily assembled and/or mounted and de-mounted from a vehicle.
This object is solved according to the invention by the features of the independent claims. Particular embodiments of the invention are subject of the dependent claims.